Huntington's Chorea in the Chinese

Abstract

Since the original description in 1872, Huntington's chorea has been reported in many parts of the world and in different races (Wilson, 1940; Kishimoto, 1958). So far, however, it does not appear to have been described in the Chinese. In the past there has been a tendency to assume, without adequate data, that certain diseases are non-existent or are only of rare occurrence in the Chinese. To give an example, it was not long ago when it was claimed that syphilis was mild in the Chinese and neurosyphilis very rare (Maxwell, 1929). This led to the theory, held by some, of the " immunization " of the people through a long history of the disease (Maxwell, 1929). Such claims, like many others, are proving illusory (Wilson, 1940

Huntington's chorea: a centenary review

“…The theory of 'anticipation' according to which the disease has an earlier onset in succeessive generations is now discredited, and examples are thought to have been due to observer error, but some families with a suggestive history of it are still occasionally reported (Singer, 1962).…”

Huntington's disease in Chinese: a hypothesis of its origin.

“…As the average Chinese population during this period was 5-44 million, the period prevalence was 3-7 per 10.6 Six patients had died by 1991. There were therefore 14 (table). The male predominance was statistically significant, X2 = 15-3, df = 1, p < 0-001 (chi-square test).…”

Huntington's chorea. Report of a chinese family in Singapore.

“…Familial cases in Chinese have been recorded by Singer (1962) who found 8 cases in 4 generations in one family in Hong Kong, and by Tsuang (1969) from Taiwan who reported another family with 11 cases in 4 generations.…”